Description
Book SynopsisIn parks and cafes, homes and stadium stands, Cubans talk baseball. This work contends that when they are analyzing and debating plays, teams, and athletes, Cubans are exchanging ideas not just about baseball but also about Cuba and cubanidad, or what it means to be Cuban. It explores the interconnections between baseball and Cuban identity.
Trade Review“
The Quality of Home Runs offers engaging and provocative perspectives on socialism, nationalism, masculinity, and the embodiment and poetics of sport in Cuba, all seen from the vantage point of the stadium stands and the streets of Havana. Thomas F. Carter’s emphasis on themes such as spectacle, social drama, struggle, and discipline of both players and fans, on and off the field, builds a persuasive analysis of changing notions of what it means to be Cuban.”—
Thomas M. Wilson, Binghamton University
Table of ContentsPreface: Entering the Field vii
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction. The Theoretical "Stretching:" of Sport and the State 1
1. Baseball and the Language of Contention 17
2. Circling the Base Paths: Baseball, Migration, and the Cuban Nation 36
3. The Spectacle of and for Cuba 63
4. The State in Play: The Politics of Cuba's National Sport 89
5. Fans, Rivalries, and the Play of Cuba 111
6. Talking a Good Game 136
7. The Qualities of
Cubanidad:
Calidad and
Lucha in Baseball 159
Conclusion: Touching 'Em All: Recalling and Recounting Home Runs 183
Notes 203
Works Cited 213
Index 231
